The International Movement for Defense of Children - Palestine documented the death of 70 children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem (50 males and 20 females) at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces during the first half of this year (until 30/6/2021).
The movement indicated, in a press statement, that among the martyred children; 61 children in the Gaza Strip were killed by the Israeli occupation during its last aggression on the Strip last May, which lasted 11 days, while 9 children were killed in the West Bank.
She indicated that she had also documented the injury of 85 children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (61 males and 24 females), at the hands of the occupation forces during the same period, some of whom had permanent disabilities.
The "international movement" confirmed that the occupation authorities have systematically and blatantly violated - and continue to violate - the basic rights of Palestinian children, such as the right to life, education, freedom, and live in safety, among others, by demolishing homes and notifying demolition, and confiscating their right to education by demolishing or storming schools, or targeting students. While they are heading to schools or returning from them, or while they are on their desks, either by firing tear gas and sound bombs, directly at them, or by chasing them, arresting them and constantly threatening them to impede their daily lives, whether by soldiers or settlers, which requires accountability on these practices and bring their leaders to trial for the crimes they committed against Palestinian children.
With regard to education, Defense for Children International has documented 45 violations of education committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank during the first half of this year, most notably storming schools, obstructing students’ access to their school seats, the presence of soldiers in the vicinity of schools, and violence by soldiers and settlers towards students and teachers, seizing school building tools.
She indicated that every year, between 500-700 children between the ages of 12-17 years are arrested and tried in Israeli military courts. They are subjected to interrogation and detention by the occupation army, the police, and the Israeli security services.
According to the Addameer Foundation for Prisoner Care and Human Rights, the number of Palestinian children currently detained in Israeli occupation prisons is 250.
The movement stated that the Israeli occupation authorities demolished 13 homes in the West Bank during the same period (2 in Jenin, 2 in Hebron, and 9 in Jerusalem).
She stressed that all of these practices constitute a flagrant violation of the rights of Palestinian children, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel signed and ratified in 1991, which obliges it to implement, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is part of international law and is binding on Israel. International humanitarian law and international human rights law, without any regard for all its international obligations.
The "international movement" reiterated that the policy of impunity enjoyed by the Israeli occupation soldiers and their prior knowledge that they will not be held accountable for their actions, no matter what, encourages them to continue and escalate their violations of the rights of the children of Palestine, which requires the international community to take urgent measures to arrest All Israeli perpetrators of crimes who kill Palestinian children or cause them permanent disabilities, in direct violation of international law.
